Today was my longest day yet - 84 miles with more than 3000 ft climb. Honestly though, it was a lot more brutal than that. I thought wind would be the biggest problem, but it actually helped a bit since I had a light tailwind on the climbs. The heat was what really got me. Since I crossed over to Utah, the timezone changed. Though I thought that I started at 6:30 AM, it was really 7:30 AM! By 11:00 AM, the sun was bright and shining and I was really feeling the heat. There is absolutely no shade in this stretch so I was under the sun pretty much the whole way. I carried 4L of water, thinking that carrying my max capacity of 5L would make my backpack heavy and slow me down. Big mistake!
The extra liter of water was definitely worth having because 50 miles in, I was running out of water. I had probably half a liter and my emergency 600 ml bottle left, where as I had 30 miles to go. I ended up having to flag a car down and getting a bottle from them! They were really nice about it and gave me the entire bottle! I met a bunch of other riders while camping in Baker last night and we had a great time chatting during dinner. I met two of them again today. The two others are a grandpa and and grandson! I saw them on my ride here, but didn't see them since. Hopefully they got here okay. So a few tough days over the past week. I hear that Utah offers much of the same - winds, cloudbursts and heat. But it is supposed to be prettier, let's see!
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One of the reasons I decided to do this ride is to change myself, push my limits. And today, I certainly hit that goal! I knew it was going to be a tough day - 78 miles and 4200 ft climb. So mentally, I was prepared for it. What I wasn't prepared for was the heavy headwinds I had over the last 10 miles. Things went smoothly until I got up to my fourth and final pass for the day. The last 10 miles were all downhill, so I felt pretty good. But as I descended, the wind was so strong, I had to pedal to even keep a 15mph pace! Down the mountain! The situation just kept getting worse as I got closer to Ely. When you expect a nice clean downhill but instead have to fight to keep moving forward with 10 miles to go, it can be incredibly demoralizing. But after a lot of effort and breaks, I finally made it to Ely at 3:30 PM, 2 hours later than I had hoped. I've always heard bike tourers complain about headwinds, but today was the first time I actually felt their pain.
Anyways, I still managed to complete the day. I met a bunch of cyclists on the way. They seemed to be racing. They had a support car and everything. Can't say I didn't envy them : no luggage, a big big group and a support car! I tried to keep pace with them but it was a futile effort. Tomorrow is a lighter day - less miles, less climbs. Hopefully won't have too much wind! Guess what? I ended up taking my first rest day today. I had planned to push to Ely today and take my rest day there, but I didn't have a great night camping, last night. It was really cold (about 5 Degree C) but my sleeping bag is designed for much warmer temperatures. So I was tossing and turning until about 3:00 AM when it finally struck me that I can wear my jacket. After that I felt much better and slept well until about 5. Once I woke up and started preparing for my ride, I knew I wasn't feeling fully up to it. So I decided to check into a motel, take a shower, do my laundry and rest up. This next section isn't to be taken lightly, so I am glad I took the day off and was able to get some rest.
It's also pretty apparent that I am not comfortable camping in random parks. I feel very icky if I haven't showered and it's a bit of a pain finding a proper restroom and source of drinking water. The biggest problem is that I don't feel well rested the next day. Most other people who tour don't seem to find camping much of a problem at all! Not sure what I'm missing. Maybe it's just that you have to be ok with being a little dirty? Since I was here all day, I got a chance to learn a little about Eureka. It's got quite a fascinating history. Most buildings here look old and are unoccupied. That's because they were built in the 19th century during the mining boom and once the mines were done, everyone left, leaving the place exactly as it was. There's an obvious influence of the mining culture all through the town. Now I feel well rested and ready to tackle the long section tomorrow! On paper, today was a long and hard day. The actual experience was a little better than I had imagined it would be. There were two fairly hard climbs at the very beginning that I overcame pretty comfortably. Then a gradual downhill until the next pass about midway through the ride. And then a long 40 miles stretch which was slightly downhill throughout. Surprisingly, that ended up being one of the harder bits. Probably because it was very monotonous for my hands and butt, and my legs were already tired from the climbs. Anyways, it passed and I got to Eureka.
The weather was fantastic throughout - a light cool breeze with a little bit of sunlight. I even had a tail wind for a while in the long, flat stretch. I was feeling pretty good when I got to Eureka and got some pizza for lunch. I decided to set up my tent for the night and push to Ely tomorrow (I had originally planned a rest day here but now I think I'll do it at Ely). Most towns en route the Western Express and TransAm route know that cyclists stop by so they let us camp in the parks for free. I set up my tent in a nice little park here. I met a Dutch couple going the other way. This is their second US cross country trip apart from their many tours in Europe. Pretty hardcore! The only issue with camping is the lack of facilities for shower, camping and internet. I found a random open WiFi signal that I used to check out tomorrow's ride and pushed shower and laundry to tomorrow. Now for a good night's sleep and then one of the longest biking days of my life - 78 miles and 4000 ft! Today was a hard day. On paper, it is one of the easiest stage in the desert stage, but it took some effort to get here to Austin. It rained, off and on, throughout the day. I got wet some half an hour into the ride in the morning. I contemplated staying the day at Cold Springs Station and letting the storm pass, but for better or worse, I decided to push on to Austin. Things went well until my first climb when I got wet again from another spell of rain. Then again about 10 miles away from Austin. Finally, I was 2 miles away laboring through the last steep climb when a thunderstorm came by and completely soaked me. I checked into the first motel I saw as soon as I got into Austin and took a warm shower. After some sleep and food, I feel much better now. Tomorrow I do 70 miles as opposed to the 47 miles I did today. I also have to climb a few hundred feet more. Thankfully, the weather looks good - clear skies with a max of 20 C. The day after that is even more strenuous in terms of distance and height. Let me take it one day at a time, I guess.
There are a few more items I realized I might not need during the trip and might want to get rid of - extra clothes, bungee cords and toilet rolls. I wanted to send them back from the post office today, but was too tired to make my way there. Maybe I'll do it at Eureka tomorrow. Other than that, my legs are tired, my knees hurt a bit but overall, I am doing pretty well. Just need to make sure that I am mentally strong to face and overcome the next few days! Today was my first proper desert stage. It was 47 miles to Middlegate and if I felt good, I decided to do the 13 miles to Cold Spring Station. I set out around 7:30 AM. The first 25 miles or so were perfect. It was nice and cool and the road was dead straight with a gentle downward incline. I was doing 20 mph average! On the way there were salt wells, which are quite an amazing sight - acres and acres of white salt, perfectly flat. The road itself was similar to yesterday - 2 lanes with rumble strips. So I had to always be cautious when cars passed and a lot of cars passed!
They call this the loneliest road in the world but it certainly didn't feel very lonely. There were certain periods of a few minutes when everything was silent, but most of the time you could hear the loud buzz of car tires on the road. The day stayed exactly like it was in the morning throughout the day. After the long flat, I climbed two relatively small passes and got to Middlegate around 11:30 AM. I had a nice grilled chicken sandwich in a very old wild-west looking bar (which is basically the entirety of Middlegate). Since I was doing good on time and felt good, I pushed onto Cold Springs station. It was 14 miles of gradual uphill that went pretty smoothly. Cold Springs station is also just a bar and motel, though it's much nicer looking. I initially booked a camp spot and pitched my tent, but considering there was a high chance of rain, decided to get a cabin instead. Tomorrow is supposed to be thunderstorms in Austin! Hopefully I can get there dry. Today was my first day in the desert and I got a taste of what is going to come in the following week. It was basically one long straight road over miles and miles of hills and shrubs. I kept a pretty good pace throughout but still took about 5 hours to cover 65 miles. I met a fellow TransAm cyclist on the way. We talked briefly before he went ahead. A few miles later, he had stopped on the side of the road and I got ahead of him. He said he had a partner with him but I didn't see either of them after that.
The roads here are just two lanes with rumble strips on either side and also in the middle. So, I always have to be attentive and stay as close to the side of the road as possible. It definitely gets quite tiring as the hours tick by. Luckily there's enough space for cars to pass within the lane. But it is still quite close and the margin for error is small. Just need to stay attentive! I have a bit of a dilemma on how to go about the next few days. I can take it easy and do the 47 miles to Middlegate tomorrow and then the 61 miles to Austin day after, or try to do the whole thing tomorrow. I would have done latter if the terrain was flat, but there is 4000 ft of climbing in those 110 miles! So I think I'll have to take it easy. I feel like I am having a bit too many easy days. Oh well, "don't try to make up time in the desert" is what I have been told. So maybe it is best to cool my heels and put in some longer days later. For now, I get a warm shower and a cozy bed in Value Inn (run by a very a nice Gujarati couple). Today was a relatively relaxed day. Just 39 miles, most of which was downhill. I could've pushed to Fallon today, but I already had a Warmshowers host here and I wasn't feeling a hundred percent in the morning. I got here by 10:30 AM. The ride was quite nice - one solid uphill, after which was a beautiful windy downhill road that led straight to Carson city.
Once I got here, I had a nice brunch and headed to my host's place. I took a nap and went off in search for some warm clothes for the upcoming week in the desert. My dad had sent me an article about Bike Smith, a bike shop that tuned touring bikes for free, so I thought I should check it out. They really are as good as the great reviews suggest. They were booked for a week, but still took the time to take a look at my bike when I told them I was touring. They oiled my derailleurs and made sure everything was shifting smoothly and didn't charge a penny for all the work. It felt so nice to receive these little tokens of appreciations from people along the way. My Warmshower host is another interesting person. His house is packed with scrap items that he picks up from various places in order to resell or tear apart. He has probably 20 bikes in the garage and a ton of other crazy stuff. He also had a lot of other interesting stories to tell and took me to a friend's place to pick up some bike parts. So pretty interesting, light day and a good start to my desert adventures. Today was another short (30 mile), steep ride. Looking back, I think it went pretty smoothly, though this wasn't what I was thinking while riding. The initial 4 miles or so were really steep and I was doing some 3 mph. It definitely felt like I had underestimated the ride at that point. I pushed through anyway, and the next 6 miles were better with a few flat sections and moderate slopes. After 10 miles came the highlight of the day - A beautiful view of Lake Tahoe followed by 4 miles of downhill. I was going at 30mph! Then a few more ups and downs until I finally rolled into South Lake Tahoe at around 12:30PM. I had a huge lunch of Thai Curry puffs and Panang curry and checked into a Motel 6.
The last two days have been tough not just on my legs, but on my body too. My butt hurt pretty bad yesterday when I had the padded pants on and was a little better today, with boxers and shorts. What really troubled me today were my hands. The gloves seemed to be digging into the spaces between my fingers and my hands get really weak after a few hours of riding. It got so bad today that I wasn't able to shift the front gears towards the end of the ride. I even took the bike to a shop to make sure the derailleur was ok, and it was. It's just my hands. Need to take care of them. South Lake Tahoe is a beautiful little city. I went down to the lake shore (which is like a beach) and bought myself some ice cream and dipped my weary feet in the cool water. So, a pretty good day all around! Tomorrow I will leave California for the deserts of Nevada. Learning from my previous mistakes, I decided to leave early today. I planned to leave by 6:30 AM, but it became 7:00 AM by the time I packed my things and said my goodbyes. Still, not too bad. I knew today was going to be all uphill so I shed some weight - the jacket, duct tape, broken mirror, and cycling cap.
My plan was to reach Pollock Pines around 9:30 AM. That way I could have brunch there and get to Kyburz before the heat set in. Though it was pretty tough, that's exactly how things turned out. The first half was a solid 2000 ft climb over some 15 miles. Then quick Taco Bell brunch. At that point I had 2000 ft up, 1000ft down and 21 miles left. Easy, right? Turns out, no. As soon as I left Pollock Pines, I descended fast. I was hitting 30 mph! That speed helped me get over small hills on the way. This went on for 10 miles. The next few miles were hard work, but I was still keeping a good pace. Finally, just before turning away from Highway 50 to the campground, I checked to see what was left - 1000 ft up in 2 miles! That was pretty crazy! Just looking up at the road scared me. I ended up having to get off my bike and push it the entire 2 miles! It took a while, but I made it by around 1:00 PM. The campsite here is a nice little spot. Though there aren't any public showers here, the manager graciously let me take a bath in her own shower. I set up tent, had a cold breakfast burrito, and am ready to head to bed. All in all, pretty good day, especially after the scare yesterday. |
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